New Zealand Film Festival - latest reviews from the final Auckland weekend

New Zealand Film Festival - latest reviews from the final Auckland weekend 

Holy Motors

This year's WTF? goes squarely to closing night film Holy Motors - a title which will be potentially the equivalent of the Tree Of Life in terms of you're either all in or you're all out. From director Leos Carax, it follows the mysterious Monsieur Oscar  (an extremely versatile, albeit craggy looking Denis Lavant) as he drives around Paris from one 'appointment' to another. Chauffeured in a white limousine by Celine (Edith Scob) he takes on various persona which he pulls together from a theatrical style wardrobe in the back of the car. He's by turns, an elderly woman begging on the streets, a motion capture artist, an imp running off with a model from a shoot and various others (to reveal more is a little unfair as it robs you of the insanity of the piece). Kylie and Eva Mendes show up in this surreal road odyssey which wends its way around Paris' streets. Utterly crazy, wild, wacky and really WTF? Holy Motors is the perfect way to close the New Zealand International Film Festival. It's a visual treat even if you don't really have a clue what's going on - the whys and the wherefores are all very much up to interpretation and that's great to provoke debate as the film ends but it certainly gives way to a puzzling experience as it unfolds on the big screen. Lavant is great in the role - as each appointment plays out, he gives a performance which is certainly boots and all. From the impish gibberish talker who disrupts Eva Mendes photoshoot to the sad faced parent scolding a child for lying to him, it's a compelling turn even if you're not quite clear on what's unfurling. Kylie Minogue is in downbeat mode as someone who appears to share a connection with Oscar. All in all, Holy Motors is a visual feast; a film which has links with Dali and Lynch and which refuses to be confined by convention and provides the clearest indication that creativity is its own reward.

V/H/S

A horror anthology which promised to deliver the scares, V/H/S has certainly got the indie credentials. Its premise involves a group of utter losers breaking into a home to steal some videotapes from a house. As ever with the found film footage genre, they're taping their every action for us to enjoy. But while that's the wrap-around for the over-arching story, the hook comes in the videos that one of them watches while the others are searching the house. Comprising five tales, each from an expert in the genre, the quality is varying and the results sometimes scary and other times not so. In fact, to be honest, the first two found footage videos played didn't float my boat at all - and I wondered if the rest of the film would be frankly as uninspiring. How wrong, because the final three films are utterly brilliant and pack as many inventive scares and smart new ideas as any long form Hollywood horror movie can dream of. A trip to the woods, a Skype chat between two lovers which turns deadly and a ritual on Hallowe'en are the smartest pieces of genre film making I've seen in years. Grubby, lo-fi and packing nudity of male and female, V/H/S really does have something for everyone and while there are plenty of "WTF was that?" moments, there's certainly no real "Oops, I've soiled myself in fear" moments throughout. The filmmaking talent involved's smart enough to offer up enough chills to rejuvenate the format and using the Video footage means the audience is carefully scanning the screen trying to see what's coming. The beauty of this piece? You won't and what you do get will surprise and titillate even the most jaded of horror lovers with freshness and smarts.

A Monster in Paris

The award for the most generic looking animation this year at the festival, A Monster in Paris feels like it could have come straight out of the multiplexes - a feeling not much helped by the fact all of the voice over work is done by Americanised actors, a decision which to be honest, had me scratching my head and wishing really that it had been left in its native language. Set in 1910 Paris, the film follows a projectionist's friendship with rogueish delivery man Raoul after the pair inadvertently create a giant flea monster when a delivery goes a bit awry. Throw in a friendship between that giant flea and a French Parisienne singer Lucille and a potential showdown with a police commissioner hell-bent on capturing the Monster of Paris and securing his mayoral campaign and it's all on. Gorgeous French computer animation with vivid purples, blues and green hues add beautifully to this tale which is anything but generic and packs more charm than certain other major studio releases this year. Musical numbers add to the flavour of the film and retro throwbacks to horror films, the Phantom of the Opera and the cinema of yesteryear certainly give this piece a much enjoyable feel. Also, make sure you get there on time to view SNAP, the 6 minute short prior which is bright, beautiful and blimming funny - sometimes, the best things do come in small doses.

Bully
Anyone who's experienced any level of bullying or who's always claimed ignorance of the issue will find something in this doco from Lee Hirsch. Set in Middle America, it follows a clutch of kids whose lives are made hellish by the daily beatings, verbal smackdowns and general cruelty of kids in general and a system which seems determined to be nothing more than ineffectual. Beginning with home video footage of a young boy, playing happily and gradually as the years go by becoming more withdrawn, the tone is set early on - it's a hard watch but one which is nothing less than compelling throughout even if some of the wider issues and backgrounds are a little ignored. 12-year-old Alex is the poster boy for bullying; born prematurely and cruelly dubbed Fishface by some in school, he's a loner who's punched on the bus for no reason, strangled and ostracised but yet who goes back every day to endure it all again and suffers in silence. When one kid's asked about what goes on with the bullying, he simply states "It breaks my heart" and that's something any audience member sitting through this will identify with. Hirsch has pulled together a piece which is provocative as it deals with growing numbers of suicides caused by bullying but which tries to offer up some hope at the end. School systems and ineffective principals are damned by Lee's non-intrusive camera work, which captures the frustrations of the parents and the denial of those in power who could make a difference. Alex proves to be an engaging subject - despite enduring a daily hell of people telling him they "will end" him, his demeanour and attitude can be challenging and heartbreaking as he asks "Who else will be my friend" when his parents see the extent of what Lee's caught on camera and urge him to  speak up. Bully also deals with other kids whose lives are damned and the parents of a teen boy who felt he had no choice but to take his own life. By providing a document which has such disarming honesty, you can see what Lee Hirsch is trying to do - and is continuing to do after release - but you can't help but feel this is a film which needs to be seen more by the masses, freed from any distribution issues and given directly to schools to actually make a difference (no fault of the film-maker here, I hasten to add). Bully is an emotive yet matter of fact piece which is emotionally shattering and utterly horrifying as it follows its subjects. It offers some hope but shows we're still too far away from ever really doing anything to actively end this - which is a crime, no matter how you view it.

Vulgaria (Guest reviewer Jacob Powell)

A light comedic piece from Pang Ho-cheung, director of devilishly good previous NZFF titles like Dream Home, Vulgaria, in true exploitation cinema mode, over-promises in both its title and programme synopsis. Instead of the comedically grimy, and twisted John Watersesque film the title Vulgaria invokes, we are delivered a cheeky satirical strip down of the sometimes ideal compromising process of getting film projects funded. Chapman To puts in a good turn as Hong Kong film producer and ethical chameleon To Wai-cheung who guests in an interview for a film studies class and spins a tale of moral abandon in getting a film project financed by gang boss Brother Tyrannosaurus (Ronald Cheng) made. Pang's film certainly delivers its share of laughs but mostly just feels a bit silly and slight. It is (now) perhaps unsurprising to have read that the film was made in only 12 days.

Just The Wind (Guest reviewer Jacob Powell)

A grim tale out of the Hungarian Roma (Gypsy) community, Benedek Fliegauf's Just The Wind is an artfully constructed and naturalistically shot film visually reminiscent of Claire Denis' White Material (2009) though with a less crisp quality. The films begins with a written notice stating that although this is a work of fiction the story has grown from an actual series of attacks on Roma families in Hungary in 2008/2009. The narrative is pretty free flowing following an 'a day in the life' template applied to a particular Roma family as they go about their work, schooling, and skiving in the wake of the brutal real life events already described. A thread of tension and inevitability is slowly pulled tight over the course of the film until, with masterful use of music, mise-en-scene, and natural performances we are left awaiting the lone possible outcome. Well paced and suitably restrained Just The Wind showcases the deft touch of an able storyteller communicating volumes sans melodrama.

Reality (Guest reviewer Jacob Powell)

In stark contrast to 2008's Gomorrah, Matteo Garrone's Reality is a barrage of contradictions and opposing meanings. The director cleverly, if not subtly, plays with the titular theme, weaving intensely mixed auditory, visual, and narrative messages into his own darkly comic fabric of Reality. This is apparent from the opening scene where a helicopter shot traces the route of a garishly decorated horse-drawn carriage along mundane streets to a wedding venue. Garrone shoots fantastical imagery with harsh documentary-like colour/lighting making it look all the more crass and unappealing. The narrative becomes increasingly disconnected from reality as would-be Big Brother contestant Luciano slowly succumbs to fame-festishised madness. Alexandre Desplat gives his very best (and perfectly suited) Danny Elfman impression with the score, creating a dramatic ending juxtaposition when audio switches to ambient sound only in the most fabricated environment of all. Great, perhaps divisive, stuff.

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